Former US lawmaker Ron Paul says the recent plane crash in Ukraine’s east would “have the least benefit” for Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin is smart enough not to participate “in an act like this.”

“Everybody’s angling to propagandize and make their position known,” Paul told Newsmax on Friday, referring to the downing of a Malaysian passenger plane in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, which left all the 298 people on board dead.

“Who would benefit the most from this? And of course, if it’s blamed on Russia, then of course, the Ukraine government would get the most benefit,” he added. “Since Russia would have the least benefit, I think Putin is a little bit smarter than that. I don’t think he would ever come close to participating in act like this.”

US intelligence officials say pro-Russian forces used SA-11 antiaircraft systems, provided by Russia in the past weeks, to bring down the airliner.

However, Paul says even if such allegations prove to be true, Russia cannot be blamed for the incident because then the US should be blamed for the atrocities committed by terrorist militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, who are armed with US weapons.

“That may well be true, but guess what, ISIS has a lot of American weapons,” Paul said in response to Newsmax host John Bachman who cited the allegations made by US intelligence officials.

“We sent weapons into Syria to help the rebels and al-Qaeda ends up getting it — it doesn’t mean that our American government and Obama deliberately wanted ISIS to get American weapons,” he stated.

President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have alleged that the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet was shot down by pro-Russians using weapons provided by Russia.

Moscow has criticized the US for politicizing the tragic incident and for pointing the blame finger at the Kremlin without even waiting for the results of an investigation.

Speaking from the White House in Washington on Monday, Obama said, “We have to make sure that the truth is out” and that accountability exists in Ukraine.